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Members of the Fairfield County Children's Choir have been so busy performing recently that one might be tempted to call them "old pros."

In the past few weeks, the FCCC's 50-member Chamber Singers have performed "Carmina Burana" with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Fairfield County Chorale at Woolsey Hall in New Haven and at the Norwalk Concert Hall; filmed a commercial for the new Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven; and presented their own winter concert, along with about 250 other FCCC members, at the Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport.

Next up: On Saturday, Dec. 8, choristers will be featured at the Greater Bridgeport Symphony's Holiday Pops at the Klein.

Singers will join the orchestra for Pietro Alessandro Yon's "Gesu Bambino," John Rutter's Angels' Carol, Copland's "Simple Gifts" and two movements from Vivaldi's "Gloria." They also will join the audience in a Christmas sing-along.

"I couldn't be more happy or pleased for our choristers," said Jon Noyes, a music teacher in the Fairfield School System and the FCCC's founder and music director. The FCCC includes four choirs, each with its own conductor, with about 300 singers in grades four through 12 from throughout the region who practice weekly (if not more) from September through May. Noyes, who is conductor of the advanced Chamber Choir, has been preparing the group for Saturday's concert and will turn over its direction to Hisey.

"Compared to a decade ago, our advanced groups are so much more advanced, performing works of higher difficulty, with the quality of teamwork growing" enormously, he said.

"We're now part of an international singing community sharing what we do with other singers and audiences around the world," he said, noting that the group has traveled here and abroad many times since its founding 18 years ago.

"If we can come together in song for an hour or so in something that we all love, how can there be hate?" he asked.

"Sometimes when I come home from school, I'm so tired. But singing revives me; it's like a boost of energy. It's such an honor" to be performing with professional musicians "and all these very important people," said Isabella, who also studies piano and violin. "It's really amazing to get this kind of experience" at such an early age. "We're part of the lucky few."

"I'm very much looking forward to conducting this concert for several reasons," he said. "The first, and perhaps most personal, is that I grew up in Fairfield. I grew up with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony and watching Gustav. I was then lucky enough ... to get to study with him for a short time.

"Being asked to conduct on the holiday concert is indeed a great honor. Of course, the music of the holidays is always special, and sharing it with our community is always a pleasure. I'm also looking forward to working with the FCCC again. We have worked together a few times in the past, and I'm always impressed by their musicality, presence and spirit. Jon Noyes and his staff deserve a lot of credit for the work they do with these children."

FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY

Concert-goers are asked to drop off nonperishable items between 6:30 and 8 p.m. at a designated area outside the Klein to benefit the clients of the Bridgeport Rescue Mission. Needed items include pasta, cereal, peanut butter, canned vegetables, tomato sauce, rice, cans of beans, cans of soup, personal care items and canned tuna.